Re: Remember Carter's Little Liver Pills?

From a story on Apr. 16, 1951

They had to have continued far longer than this as I was born in 55
and remember them in our family cabinets in Germany well into the
60's.

One of the most familiar of all trade names was booked for a major
operation last week. The Federal Trade Commission told the
manufacturers of Carter's Little Liver Pills to cut the word "liver"
out of the product name. The tiny, white-coated globules, FTC found,
are an irritative laxative (with one of their ingredients described as
"drastic"), and have no medicinal effect on the liver.
The FTC had spent several years, and undertaken a great deal of
medical research in reaching its decision. Even now, his liver is a
somewhat mysterious organ, e.g., nobody knows exactly why a man dies
within 24 hours after the liver is removed. Far less was known in
1868, when Dr. Samuel Carter of Erie, Pa. compounded a formula which
he thought was good for sick headache and torpid liver (both
"positively cured"), also indigestion, constipation or what-ails-you.
Mandrake & Aloes. Dr. Carter sought his raw materials in nature.
Podophyllum resin, or podophyllin, is the resin of the dried root of
the mandrake or May apple; Carter combined this with the dried juice
of aloes. He chose as his trademark an overstuffed black crow, which
gave a nice zoological balance to Bull Durham's bull on the nation's
barns. By 1880 the growing business was incorporated. Millions of
pills were shipped all over the U.S. and abroad.
Half a century later, a new advertising technique gave the
sexagenarian business an added boost. The ominous crow was retired;
the slogan became "Wake up your liver bile!" Jingles urged readers and
radio listeners: "When you feel sour and sunk, and the world looks
punk . . . Take a Carter's Little Liver Pill." Carter's went on to
claim that the increased liver bile would enable the pill-taker to
overeat and overindulge in "good times" without morning-after regrets,
to wake up "clear-eyed and steady-nerved," "feeling just wonderful,"
and "alert and ready for work." Copywriters combed the thesaurus and
found no less than 30 synonyms for the sluggishness which the pills
were said to cure.
Grumpy & Gloomy. The Federal Trade Commission took a bilious view of
these promotional high jinks. Carter Products Inc. produced its own
medical experts to prove that the pills actually did stimulate the
liver. But the FTC got evidence to the contrary. After eight years,
during which it collected 10,000 pages of research and a medical
monograph on the liver, the FTC struck. Its ruling last week not only
forbade Carter Products to use the word "liver" in the name of its
pills, but told Carter's to stop claiming that its pills are specific
remedies for conditions in which an individual feels "down-and-out,
blue, down-in-the-dumps, worn out, sunk, logy, depressed, sluggish,
allin, listless, mean, low, cross, tired, stuffy, heavy, miserable,
sour, grouchy, irritable, cranky, peevish, fagged out, dull, sullen,
what's-the-use, bogged down, grumpy, run down or gloomy."
The FTC left one door open. Carter's can still recommend its pills for
such miseries to the extent that any of them can be temporarily
relieved by an evacuation of the bowels.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814704,00.html#ixzz125JZEcqk

On Oct 11, 1:02 pm, Travis <baconl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I dont remember what they were for but the FDA made them take 'Liver' out of
> the name because they neither contained liver nor did anything for the
> liver.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 11:41 AM, Cold Water <coldwater...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >  LOL!  Yes, my mother used to have a little container of them in the house
> > at all times (an Italian thing perhaps?).  What were they supposed to do?
>
> > CW
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > *From:* Travis <baconl...@gmail.com>
> > *Sent:* Monday, October 11, 2010 11:48
> > *Subject:* Remember Carter's Little Liver Pills?
>
> > --
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